There are a ton of great albums that come out today, plenty of good choices that will make you very happy for the rest of the year, and perhaps even longer. One release that may not appear on your radar, but very well should be is Song of the Blackbird by William Elliott Whitmore. Once again I have to take my hat off to Kyle at More Cowbell for this post which turned me on to William’s music for the very first time almost a month ago.

If you head over to his myspace site you’ll get a great glimpse of an artist who writes beautiful and tragedy laden music which I can’t help but compare to the man in black himself. There’s not enough whiskey in the world that could soothe the pain and raw emotion you’ll find within William Elliott Whitmore’s music. William will be hitting the road with MoB favorites, Lucero next month, so make sure you get there early to catch this guy. Here’s what Lucero’s drummer, Roy had to say about seeing William perform:

I’ve seen him silence an entire room full (300 or so) of gossip prone drinkers/hipsters/rock-n-rollers/show-goers/tattooees and etc. types of folks in Chicago and put a good many of them on the verge of tears, with exuberant applause after every song. It was beautiful. Just one guy, one instrument and his songs captivating a large audience. Gave me the chills.